exhibitors and 313
paying attendees in 1998 to 92 exhibitors and
7,500 paid attendees last year.
Film: Japanese films are
becoming far more important in foreign markets.
Between 2005 and August 2006 alone, Japanese
studios released 10 films in the US. It is
noteworthy that several Hollywood studios have
demonstrated considerable interest in
obtaining the rights to remake
Japanese films. Prominent examples include The
Ring (Ringu) and a sequel The Ring
Two, Eight Below (Nankyoku
Monogatari), and The Grudge
(Juon).
Japanese film has spawned
clubs around the world, including the US-based
Kinema Club. This group has more than 300 members
from the academic community and general public,
and held conferences all over the world, including
in Montreal, New York and Frankfurt.
Japanese actors, directors and others are
also achieving more prominence within the global
movie industry. At the 2004 Cannes Film Festival,
Yuya Yagira won the first best-actor award ever
for a Japanese for his appearance in Nobody
Knows (Dare mo hiranai). The next year,
Hayao Miyazaki won the Leone d'oro alla carriera
(Golden Lion for Career Achievement) at the 62nd
Venice Film Festival - the first anime
director so honored.
Additionally,
Japanese films such as Tokyo Story and
Rashomon continue to be designated as some
of the best films of all time. The rising
influence of Japan as a trend leader has also
resulted in its selection as a location for, and
integral part of, such prominent recent films as
Kill Bill, The Last Samurai, Lost
in Translation, Babel, and Letters
from Iwo Jima.
Video
games: Japanese firms have long dominated
the game-console and handheld-game markets. As
reported in the March 16 edition of the Mercury
News, Nintendo's 335,000 Wii game-console sales in
February made it the best-selling game system in
the US for the second straight month. Wii sales
were far ahead of those for Microsoft's Xbox 360,
which sold 228,000 units. Moreover, Nintendo's DS
was the top-selling handheld-game system, with
485,000 units sold.
Japan has also been a
powerful force on the content side of the
video-game business. This is important because it
has allowed Japan to assume a key role in the
development and nurturing of leading characters
such as Super Mario Bros, Pokemon and others.
Japanese influence on the video-game content side
has allowed it to leverage its characters/themes
into other entertainment sectors, such as film.
Two examples include Biohazard and Super
Mario Bros., the movie.
Music: Japanese pop music,
"J-pop", has had great appeal in East Asia for
many years, particularly in Hong Kong, Taiwan and
mainland China. Japanese pop stars draw big crowds
when they tour and have achieved great success
throughout the region. In addition to Chage &
Aska, many Japanese pop stars, such as Wind-s,
Arashi, Ayumi Hamasaki and Namie Amuro, launch
sold-out tours in Asian countries.
While
J-pop has traditionally had little influence in
the West, this is starting to change. Americans
and other foreign audiences are now becoming more
familiar with the style as a result of the
inclusion of Japanese music in anime and
video games such as Kingdom Hearts. A young female
rock duo named Puffy AmiYumi are a good example of
how this music is being introduced into North
American life.
Fashion/lifestyle: In recent
decades, Western consumers have become well aware
of the attractive designs coming from contemporary
Japanese designers. This includes such high-pro
individuals as Issey Miyake, Yoji Yamamoto, Rei
Kawakkubo and Kenzo. As a result, North American
and European designers now believe it is critical
to monitor fashion trends in Japan. This is not
surprising. Camouflage motifs caught fire in Japan
before migrating around the world.
Additionally, a surge in interest in jeans
in Japan in the 1990s led firms such as Armani to
launch their own jeans labels to capture share
within the Japanese market. This was an attractive
revenue source they might otherwise have ignored.
Another example is the success of plaid miniskirts
in Japan, which was later followed by the adoption
of such skirts elsewhere in the world. Japan's new
role as a trend-setter is forcing big fashion
houses to hold regular focus groups in Japan to
see whether their design ideas will succeed.
Aside from clothing and accessories,
Japanese firms such as Shiseido, one of the top
five cosmetics companies in the world, exert an
important influence on style. Shiseido, which also
is one of the oldest cosmetics companies in the
world, is seen as a leader in makeup and skin-care
products, fragrances, and professional hair-care
products.
Food: Japanese
food is known throughout the world. Its appeal is
demonstrated by a continuing increase in the
number of Japanese restaurants abroad, rising
opportunities to consume Japanese-themed food such
as sushi, the increased consumption of Japanese
foods such as ramen and green tea, a proliferation
of Japanese cookbooks, the growth of Japanese food
chains such as Yoshinoya, and the astounding
success of the Japanese cooking show Iron
Chef.
It has been reported that there
are more than 600 Japanese restaurants in France,
the home of haute cuisine. There are also
9,000 restaurants in the United States claiming to
serve Japanese food. That is double the number
that existed a decade ago. This is a clear sign
that Japanese cuisine is entering the mainstream.
According to the 2005 Zagat Survey, five
of the United States' top 20 restaurants were New
York-based Japanese restaurants. The Japanese
government forecasts that the number of Japanese
restaurants worldwide will leap to 48,000 by 2009.
This is twice the number of Japanese restaurants
that exist today.
As for sushi, what is
interesting is not so much that sushi is being
consumed, as it first gained popularity in the US
in the 1970s, but that it has become available in
an increasing number of non-traditional venues.
People all over the US can now buy it at local
grocery stores such as Whole Foods or Publix. They
can purchase it at sporting events such as
baseball games. And a growing number of
high-school children in the state of Illinois,
among other places, can even purchase sushi in
their cafeterias.
Japanese food has become
popular because it is healthy, is uniquely
prepared, and uses high-quality ingredients.
Several Japanese food names such as miso, sake,
teriyaki, tofu, wasabi, wagyu and yuzu are even
becoming part of the English vocabulary. In
addition, Japanese foods and flavors that had
formerly been considered too foreign for the North
American palette are beginning to attract
attention. One example is matcha, ground green
tea, which is now being blended into soft drinks
and ice cream.
One recent Japanese food
rage in the US is Satura cakes. These bakery
products use high-quality ingredients and a
Japanese visual style (involving an interplay of
colors, textures, shapes and overall design), that
is proving very popular in US bakeries. Satura
currently has operations in California and Hawaii.
Architecture: Japanese
architectural influence is pervasive throughout
the world. Internationally renowned architect
Frank Lloyd Wright as well as the Greene Brothers,
best known in California, were heavily influenced
by Japanese architecture. East Wind (Higashi
Kaze), Inc, an architecture and design firm in
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